Australian scientists warn that the rise in temperature pushes the marine biological chain toward the brink of collapse

Date: January 16th, 2018   Source of Information: Chinanews.com.

 

Australian scientists have warned that rising ocean temperatures have pushed the chain of marine life to the brink 

of collapse if humans cannot control the rise in global temperatures, according to foreign media. Large numbers 

of people engaged in fishing and eating fish will be unsustainable.


According to the data of the food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, there were about 56.5 million 

people worldwide engaged in fishery and aquaculture in 2015. In the same year, nearly 3.2 billion people worldwide

consumed animal protein, nearly 1/5 of which came from fish.


A study published by the University of Adelaide in the international academic journal PLOS Biology points out that 

rising ocean temperatures limit the most important energy flow between different species in marine ecosystems-- 

The decrease in the number of microbes at the bottom of the biological chain resulted in a decrease in the food 

supply (mainly fish) for larger animals at the top of the biological chain. This has a serious impact on fish stocks, 

said Nahokelgen, a professor of marine biology and author of the report.


The team built 12 large 1,800 liters of fish tanks that mimic ocean warming caused by greenhouse gas emissions 

and replicated the ocean food web in the tank, through algae, fish, snails, sponges, shrimp and other series of 

marine life. Testing the consequences of ocean acidification and warming over a six-month period.


Another author, Mr. Ural said that while warming would increase the reproductive capacity of plants (mostly blue 

algae), such blue algae could not support marine food chains, because fish do not eat such plants.


Under the Paris Climate Agreement of 2015, countries around the world agreed to limit the rise in global 

temperatures to between 1.5 and 2 degrees Celsius above the previous industrial revolution average. The findings 

show that "the global goal set in the Paris Agreement must be met to avoid the collapse of the chain of marine life, 

the loss of species diversity in the oceans and the loss of fish production."